Written Answers Friday 7 November 2008

Scottish Executive

Economy

Jamie McGrigor (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had with the Ministry of Defence (MOD), Argyll and Bute Council and Highland and Islands Enterprise about the MOD's decision to sell its base at Machrihanish in Argyll and the opportunities for future use of the site.

Jim Mather: Officials from the Scottish Executive, Highlands and Islands Enterprise and Argyll and Bute Council met with officials from the MOD’s Defence Estates on 27 October 2008 to discuss Defence Estates’ disposal of the Machrihanish base. This officials group will continue to work together over the coming months to explore how Defence Estates can take forward the disposal in a way that balances environmental concerns, maintains lifeline transport links and maximises the economic development contribution the site’s future use might make to the economy of Kintyre.

Economy

Jamie McGrigor (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive, in light of the Ministry of Defence’s decision to sell its base at Machrihanish in Argyll, what input the Scottish Government will have in this process to maximise any benefits to the people and the economy of Campbeltown and Kintyre.

Jim Mather: Officials will work with MOD Defence Estates over the coming months to explore how Defence Estates can take forward the disposal of its Machrihanish base in a way that balances environmental concerns, maintains lifeline transport links and maximises the economic development contribution the site’s future use can make to the Campbeltown community, the economy of Kintyre and Scotland as a whole.

Economy

Jamie McGrigor (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what support it can provide to the local economy of Campbeltown and Kintyre to ensure that it benefits as much as possible from the sale of the Ministry of Defence’s Machrihanish base in Argyll.

Jim Mather: Officials will work with MOD Defence Estates over the coming months to explore how Defence Estates can take forward the disposal of its Machrihanish base in a way that balances environmental concerns, maintains lifeline transport links and maximises the economic development contribution the site’s future use can make to the Campbeltown community, the economy of Kintyre and Scotland as a whole.

  The resulting disposal strategy will itself inform consideration of any additional measures that may needed to maximise identified economic development opportunities.

Education

Jamie McGrigor (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to establish a more diverse vocational curriculum for male and female students, with a view to higher rates of male and female school leavers entering higher education, further education, employment, voluntary work or training.

Maureen Watt: Curriculum for Excellence will offer better outcomes for all young people in Scotland, regardless of their gender, by providing a coherent, more flexible and enriched curriculum from three to 18, which is firmly focused on the needs of the child and young person. Through Curriculum for Excellence every child and young person will be entitled to opportunities to develop skills for learning, skills for life and skills for work across all curriculum areas, including through practical or applied learning. As part of this commitment skills for work qualifications have been developed to encourage young people to develop knowledge and skills within a vocational context.

  As part of the wider Curriculum for Excellence programme, 16+ Learning Choices is our new model for ensuring that all young people completing compulsory education have a suitable offer of post-16 learning. As such it will support the planning of a coherent curriculum in the senior phase, with opportunities for young people to continue to develop skills for learning, skills for life and skills for work beyond school.

  This focus on improving outcomes for all young people is reflected in our concordat with COSLA, which includes a commitment to providing more school pupils with opportunities to experience vocational learning.

Electricity

Jamie Hepburn (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive which banks own, or are part of consortia that own, companies that produce or supply electricity in Scotland.

Jim Mather: Information on the share structure of such companies is not held by the Scottish Government. In addition, ownership information on some companies who generate electricity in Scotland, especially smaller generators, may not be universally available.

  The information on the shareholding structure of companies which is available can be accessed through the Companies House website.

Finance

George Foulkes (Lothians) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what assistance it is giving to (a) charities and (b) local authorities with investments in Icelandic banks.

John Swinney: The Scottish Government is working with the UK Government, Scottish local authorities and, through the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations, Scottish charities to secure and retain all the assets that Scottish depositors had placed in Icelandic banks in good faith.

  We are in regular contact with the UK Government, including the Secretary of State for Scotland and HM Treasury to ensure that everything possible is being done by the UK Government to recover these assets.

First Minister

George Foulkes (Lothians) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive on how many occasions the First Minister has met the (a) Prime Minister and (b) Secretary of State for Scotland in each month since May 2007.

John Swinney: The First Minister met with the Prime Minister on 16 July 2007 and 28 April 2008.

  The First Minister met with the Secretary of State for Scotland on 16 August 2007, 25 January 2008, 25 June 2008 and 21 October 2008.

Justice

George Foulkes (Lothians) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what progress has been made on the introduction of a single non-emergency telephone number.

Fergus Ewing: The Scottish Government is not convinced that the considerable expense in terms of funding and organisational change needed to install a single non-emergency number would be justified by the possible benefits. Our view is that the most appropriate way forward is through police forces and local authorities collaborating to develop solutions that work best to meet public demands and expectations. This is already bearing fruit in a number of areas such as Grampian, where Grampian Police and Aberdeenshire Council have a formal contract that covers out-of-hours calls and callouts for services including environmental health and housing repairs.

Local Income Tax

David Whitton (Strathkelvin and Bearsden) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how water and sewerage charges will be set and collected under its local income tax plans.

John Swinney: The Scottish Government is committed to the abolition of council tax and the introduction of a local income tax. Once a full analysis of the consultation responses is complete, we shall outline our plans on how we intend to progress our proposals, including how these will impact on water and sewerage charges.

Local Income Tax

David Whitton (Strathkelvin and Bearsden) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of submissions to its consultation on local income tax opposed the proposals.

John Swinney: Members of the public and organisations submitted a range of views in their responses to the Scottish Government’s consultation on local income tax. Where respondents have given their permission, we shall publish these responses and an analysis of these responses with a breakdown of responses to particular questions. The Scottish Government will also outline how it plans to take forward its proposals, taking account of the views of those responding to the consultation.

Local Income Tax

David Whitton (Strathkelvin and Bearsden) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many different tax codes it anticipates that a company based in Glasgow or Edinburgh will have to deal with under a locally-set local income tax.

John Swinney: In the consultation paper A Fairer Local Tax for Scotland,  the Scottish Government proposed a nationally-set rate for local income tax. When we publish the responses to this consultation paper later this year we shall outline how we plan to take forward our proposals, including where our proposals are developing on issues such as this as a result of the consultation.

Mortgage Rights (Scotland) Act 2001

Malcolm Chisholm (Edinburgh North and Leith) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many homeowners have asked for a delay in their homes being repossessed under the Mortgage Rights (Scotland) Act 2001 during the last five years.

Fergus Ewing: The information requested is not held centrally.

Parliamentary Questions

George Foulkes (Lothians) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive when it will provide substantive answers to questions S3W-16307 and S3W-15878, which received holding replies on 29 September 2008.

John Swinney: Information is currently being collated and answers to questions S3W-16307 and S3W-15878 will follow in due course.

Pay

George Foulkes (Lothians) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what bonuses were paid to the Permanent Secretary in each of the last three financial years.

John Swinney: The Permanent Secretary’s remuneration is set by the UK Government on the recommendation of the Permanent Secretaries’ Remuneration Committee, which comprises members of the independent Senior Salaries Review Board (SSRB), the Head of the Home Civil Service and the Permanent Secretary of HM Treasury, as set out in paragraph 31 of the Scottish Government Consolidated Accounts which were published on 30 September 2008 at:

  http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2008/09/29130020/21.

  In common with the remainder of the Senior Civil Service, the resources available for annual non-consolidated performance bonuses available for Permanent Secretaries are significantly greater than those available for increases in consolidated pay, in line with the recommendations of the SSRB.

  Paragraph 38 of the Consolidated Accounts for 2007-08 sets out the salary and benefits in kind of the Permanent Secretary and comparable information is available in the Consolidated Accounts for previous years.

Pensions

George Foulkes (Lothians) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what pension contribution it makes in respect of the Permanent Secretary and each Director General and what percentage of salary this represents.

John Swinney: Civil Service pension arrangements involve employer contributions to the pensions of all directly employed staff. These vary between 17.1% and 25.5% of salary. For the Permanent Secretary and the six Directors General the percentages of individual salary represented by employer’s contributions range between 18.7% and 25.5%, at an average cost of £2,796 per month.

Procurement

George Foulkes (Lothians) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive for what projects it has drawn up approved lists of contractors and what the criteria are for deciding whom to include.

John Swinney: The information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

Scottish Futures Trust

Gil Paterson (West of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what progress has been made in taking forward the development of the Scottish Futures Trust.

John Swinney: I shall be announcing today the appointment of two Non-Executive Directors to the Board of Scottish Futures Trust: Councillor Jim Fletcher, Leader of East Renfrewshire Council, and Colin Maclean, former Group Head of Procurement and Supply Chain Management with BP.

Scottish Government Ministers

George Foulkes (Lothians) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-17090 by John Swinney on 22 October 2008, which Scottish ministers and junior Scottish ministers have signed a declaration of adherence to the provisions of the Official Secrets Act 1989.

Bruce Crawford: The Official Secrets Act 1989 applies to the Scottish ministers. There is no requirement for ministers to sign declarations of adherence to the act.

Correction

The reply to question S3W-16745 which was originally answered on 21 October 2008, has been corrected: see page 4568 or http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/pqa/wa-08/wa1106.